A Study on the Introduction of the Crime of Judicial Perversion

Since 2018, there have been multiple legislative attempts to introduce to Korea the crime of judicial perversion. Given that discussions on its adoption are likely to continue, it is necessary to analyze potential problems regarding the introduction of this crime in Korea from various perspectives. From a legislative standpoint, unlike Germany, Korea already has a broad provision addressing abuse of official authority, rendering the necessity of a new offense punishing judicial perversion minimal. From a criminal justice system perspective, issues include risk of abuse due to the subjective nature of concepts like law and justice, lack of clarity in the proposed criminal provision, and potential violations of the constitutional principle of equality. On a practical level, challenges include difficulty of expecting fair and restrained application of the law, ambiguous boundary between punishable judicial perversion and permissible legal interpretation or judicial error, increased rigidity in legal decision-making, and the potential for increased acquittal rate in serious criminal cases. Particularly concerning is the proposed application of this offense to prosecutors, which not only conflicts with their role as parties to criminal proceedings and the principle of prosecutorial discretion, but also lacks consistency with the broader policy direction of investigative authority reform. Therefore, extreme caution is needed in considering the adoption of this system.